Weaving, spinning and general happy fibrery goodness from the Far North of Scotland

Carbeth

The Carbeth Sweater and Cardigan is becoming widely known in the knitting community as a quick knit. It’s a straightforward project in bulky weight yarn (the original uses dk doubled) and there’s even been a Kal called #bangoutacarbeth on social media.

So being a kind of quick hit knitter I thought I’d have a go, over confidently expecting me to finish it in five days, the ‘typical’ time taken by those fast knitters on Ravelry (there’s one knitter who reports having taken a mere two days, I can’t imagine what kind of epic, non eating, non sleeping, non anything else at all, kind of marathon that must have been).

Ho hum.

Arrogant, moi?

All good plans and that…

What I didn’t account for is my sloppy attitude towards counting. It’s sort of necessary when knitting a garment and not something to approach with a devil may care attitude. I apparently didn’t get that particular memo.

Carbeth is knit from the bottom up, casting on all the stitches for the fronts and back at once, then knitting with no shaping until you reach the arms. At this point you divide for said arms and the rest of the body; from this point onward the magic happens. The defining feature of Carbeth is the decreases that run to a point in the middle of the back and front. Obviously, you need the same number of stitches on both sides to be able to do this. I was knitting, and knitting, with quite a bit of effort as 6.5mm needles are monsters, when I realised I had significantly more stitches on once side compared to the other. Cue major knitter melt down.

Once my adult had returned, I was able to frog and restart from the arm holes this time with the correct amount of stitches on either side. Funnily enough it worked really well.

However it meant I lost about two days knitting time and, ahem, another two days in teenage rage.

Then, and purely down to my decision making, I ran out of yarn just as I was about to start the icord bind off. I’d added a couple of extra inches to the body length (turns out this was a good decision for once) so, of course, didn’t have enough to finish. So after ordering more yarn and a few more days postie stalking I finally reached the finish line ten days after casting on. Not bad but certainly nothing to feel comfortably smug about either.

My buttons are from An Caitin Beag, bought at EYF, they’re clever as you get to sew the little hearts in yarn from your project, so cute.

I’m pleased, it fits, and goes with much of my wardrobe and isn’t super heavy, despite being a real yarn eater, or overly warm. The icord bind off along the ribbing at the front looks fab and is another of those clever Kate Davies touches that elevates her designs. Oh and I added a pocket, I like pockets and it means I have somewhere to store my ever present tissue.

So the knitting ego has been restored to its rightful size and I have a lovely new garment to forever remind me to always, always COUNT!

Ahhh, i keep looking at carbeth, stalking projects, wondering if I need one. You make me think I do. I like your longer length. I worry that the inverted V detail will draw attention to my bust, which needs no such effort. But it looks so lovely and comfortable. I think I might have to add it to the queue. Thanks for helping me decide! And no worries about the tantrum. That girl resides in is all somewhere, and comes popping out at some inopportune tines.